uNseR maNN IN euRopa

wall of light dog, 2000; oil on linen; 74.4 x 79.9" (189 x 203 cm)
public Collection: Staatliche Museen Kassel, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany
Cezanne an: Alles müll! Entscheidend ist:
sie haben durchgehalten.“
Scully hat durchgehalten und dabei
seine faszinierende Bildsprache entwickelt.
Er überrascht mich völlig, als er – von
sich aus – bereit ist, einige Aspekte dieser
Sprache dem außenstehenden Besucher zu
eröffnen. Ein geradezu unerhörter Vorgang,
den man höchst selten bei einem Künstler
dieses Kalibers erleben darf. Sind doch die
meisten Künstler – und besonders diejenigen,
die sich an erster Stelle selbst dafür halten
– meistens der meinung, der Betrachter
müsse sich die Aussagen der Bilder selbst
” erarbeiten“. Nicht so Scully. Was wiederum
beweist, dass er nicht nur einfach in einer
für ihn typischen Weise malt, sondern das
Geistige in seiner Kunst sehr wohl kennt –
und formulieren kann.
” Auf diesem Bild“, sagt er und zeigt
auf eines seiner lieblingsbilder mit dem
Namen Wall of light Dog’, gibt es einen
’ ”
licht-blauen horizontalen Streifen auf der
rechten Seite. Dieser Streifen unterscheidet
sich vom Rest des Bildes. Es gibt aber noch
einen anderen oben links von ähnlicher Farbe.
Er ist vertikal. Der Vertikale ist auf seine
Weise mächtiger als der Horizontale. Er ist
aggressiver, weil er Wachstum und aufrecht
stehende Figuren impliziert. Der Horizontale
dagegen ist eine innere Horizontlinie.“ Bei
der Erwähnung der ruhigeren Ausstrahlung
des waagerechten Streifens, wird auch seine
Stimme leiser, noch sanfter, geradezu melan-
person, the paintings now have more melancholia,
more pathos, bigger heart, bigger body and a
very beautiful relationship with this issue of the
edge, the way things share a surface. So these
issues of power and conciliation and cutting are
running all the way through my work. They are
the subjects of my work. It’s a kind of spiritual
humanism I think.
? But the lowest layer must be dry.
Because sometimes you can see different
colours coming through on the edges...
! Yes, it depends how long I work on
the painting. So sometimes – for example – if
I paint a painting quick, I just paint it quick.
Then I leave it. Some give me a chance to look
at the drawing. Give me the chance to change
the drawing. That happens now and again - that
I change the drawing. Not so often. But it does
give me the option. And then you will see that
these colours are being painted ON TOP OF...
but they are not mixing. So they are registering
as pure colour around the edges. That gives you
the sense of context and subtext – as I said before.
And SuBTEXT is influencing the CONTEXT
in which all these other things are existing side
by side. In a manner it’s a way of getting a sort
of narrative without illusionism. You know they
are really flat. I don’t really paint space. I am not
interested in painting space. I paint things. And
the blocks are allways things. And I paint them.
So that they sit next to other BlOCKS, that
are also THINGS. So everything has the status
in my work of a positive. I don’t paint negative
space. like figure ground paintings for example.
Everything has to be positive.
Das Handy klingelt – er führt das Gespräch
in Spanisch, geht in den anderen Raum
zu seiner Frau.
I don’t make sort of obvious hierachies
in my paintings. So everything that is in the
painting has it’s own various kind of power. To
hold it’s own place in the painting. In the way,
that it’s painted in – the painting. So, you know,
one thing can be smaller than another thing, or
lower down in the painting etcetera etcetera. But
they all assert themselves. That’s what I am doing.
I’m making something that has a kind of ...
democracy in it. And there is no clear hierarchy.
But at the same time as that I try if possible to
avoid falling into what is sometimes referred to
as ” all over painting“. I certainly avoid monochrome
painting, which I think is an option that
is historically played out. I don’t see what you
can do with it any more. It’s historically defunct.
So, I have composition in my painting.
I have drawing in my painting. I have drama in
my painting. I have emotion in it. I have reference
to the landscape, reference to the figure
and relationships – the central human problem
– so, I have a lot in the paintings. So, I haven’t
sacrificed what we might refer to as... the human
need for some content, some sense of figure,
some sense of orientation.
? when you start a painting, you
have four sides. do you make proportions
on the sides of the frame – for instance
three up, four right, six left and four on
the ground ? or do you sketch already the
fields?
! I go inside straight away. Depending
where I want to start. I can start anywhere.
? so you start – let us say – with
the bar on the left side? and then it’s
growing?
! Well, I might draw a painting out
with charcoal. But I don’t spend so much time
drawing it out, because I can paint the bars into
place – so to speak – and I can make them be
more or less anywhere. Depending on how I
paint them, depending on what colour they are.
So all this is open to articulation as the painting
progresses. And you can see with this painting
- that we are looking at now, which is one of my
favorites, called ” Wall of light Dog“ - it has one
light blue horizontal bar on the right side in the
middle. And that bar kind of distinquishes itself
from the rest of the painting. And there is another
one of a similar colour on the top left. It’s
a vertical. So the vertical in a way is more powerful
than the horizontal is. It’s more aggressive
because it implies growth and standing figures.
And the horizontal is an internal horizon line.
So you can see: it’s the same colour - in terms
of source - but it manifests itself differently. Or
one get’s the sense that it’s the same colour at
different times of the day. Or night. And the
colour on the top left - which is the vertical - is
moving towards night. It’s deeper and more
reserved. And the same source of colour on the
right hand side horizontally is more lit up. It’s